


Sometimes The Bottles Not Enough

by Raelae



Series: Tales From The Apocalypse [2]
Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 16:56:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9194435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raelae/pseuds/Raelae
Summary: Quite a few years into the outbreak, Joel finds himself alone and completely at the end of his rope. When the darkness finally tries to take him, a fiery woman shows up and puts a wrench in everything.





	

Joel could only barely remember how he had gotten where he was now, slouched down in an alley, back against a dumpster.

He vaguely remembered pulling out a bottle of alcohol, and even more vaguely remembered downing a good portion of it. But how he got from his apartment to the outdoors was a complete puzzle to him. He was even more puzzled by the voice that had been yelling at him, a voice that sounded very much pissed off and seemed to be ordering him to do something.

It hadn't occurred to him that it was way passed curfew, and a uniform was swearing at him to lay down flat on the ground and spread his arms out.

His first thought was how dirty that would get his clothing, even though his clothes were beyond dirty and even further beyond repair, but his fuzzy mind couldn't work that one out. The next thought that occurred to him was, what had he done to make this man so angry? It must have been really bad seeing as the man was even more angry now and was approaching him with a long cylindrical thing pointed at him.

His mind couldn't even figure out what a gun was anymore, he was clearly sloshed, but he didn't know that.

The next few moments were a blur and he had somehow disarmed the soldier, swung the rifle, and smashed him in the face with the butt of it. He had put enough force behind it that it killed the man, smashing his face all the way in. Joel had been unmoved by the incident and simply crouched down, nearly falling over as he did so.

When he regained some semblance of balance, he dug around till he found the uniforms sidearm, checking it over in his hand before walking, or more like stumbling, off into the night.

And that's how he found himself where he was now, though again he barely remembered any of those events.

It was light out now. He still had the gun in his hands, slowly turning it over and over as he inspected it. It was a normal firearm, typical 9mm, nothing fancy. He ejected the clip and checked on the rounds before shoving it back in place, only to repeat the action over and over.

His mind was a bit clearer now, which for him was a dangerous thing. He was a damaged man alone in the world, and now he was in some side alley still a little drunk and fiddling with a gun in his hands. Not a good combination.

Not like it wasn't the first time this situation had played out though, although most the time he was in his apartment when it did.

He'd spent years on and off after Sarah's death on that precarious line between living and dying. More than once he had wandered off somewhere away from his old hunter group or away from Tommy and contemplated putting a bullet in his head. At least three of those times Tommy had stumbled upon him, though Joel knew it was more than stumbling. After Tommy had caught him the first time he started watching him like a hawk, even taking to unloading Joel's guns at night. He stopped doing that though when a group of runners caught them by surprise one night and Joel nearly got killed because he had no ammo.

But still, Tommy did what he could to keep Joel on this Earth, till he left that is. He'd had enough, and he was losing his mind trying to keep Joel from ending it all. So he shook his head, gave him a cold look and told him he never wanted to see his goddamned face again.

And that was indeed the last time Joel saw his little brother. That only added to the pain he was already feeling. He had no family left now, and not a friend in the world. Well, accept the bottle anyway.

The thing about alcohol in this day and age is, you're lucky if you find stuff from the days before the outbreak. It was the first thing to go and any being made now, was being made by the military. The legit stuff anyway.

The stuff Joel often got was moonshine basically. Albeit some of the strongest moonshine you could find. You could take paint off a building with the stuff, or rust metal with it, hell he wasn't sure. All he knew was enough of the stuff in excess could cause you to die a painful death.

But Joel was still here, and other than getting shit faced, seemingly immune to it's other effects.

Which lead him all the way back to this moment again, head still slightly spinning and the familiar cold metal in his hands.

His mind was made up at this point, and frankly he was tired and at the end of his rope. He turned the gun so the barrel was looking at him now, still sitting down at stomach level. He focused his eyes enough so he was staring into the round black abyss of the barrel, likening it to the tunnel of darkness that awaited him. It was starting to look more and more inviting.

With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and opened his mouth, bringing the gun up and placing the barrel there. He didn't know if there was an afterlife, didn't know if Sarah was waiting there for him if there was, if she'd be pissed at him. All he knew was either way, he couldn't stay here anymore, and whether it be infinite darkness and nothingness, or reunion...at least the pain would end.

He took one last final breath before he switched the safety off, finger landing on the trigger and slowly pulling it back.

He paused at the last moment though, eyes flashing open as he heard shouts in the distance. It sounded like someone was yelling at somebody, telling them they'd just shoot them in the back if they didn't stop.

A very adamant 'fuck you' was the response fired back. By a woman by the sound of it.

Curiosity now replaced thoughts of death as Joel removed his finger, letting the trigger slowly go back in place and pulling the gun from his mouth.

Slowly he got up, using the dumpster as support as his balance wavered a bit. He barely had time to take in the situation forming itself around him, before a brown haired woman rounded the corner, almost crashing into him.

Both stared at each other for a moment, surprise etched on both their faces. But the woman was the first to react, shoving her gun up right between his eyes, the force of the impact causing him to wobble a bit. With his still slightly inebriated mind, he still found it hard to react.

“So, there's more of you huh? Well if you want to die I can sure as hell make that possible for you.”

She faltered for a moment though as she took in his appearance. His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes disheveled. Not to mention he had dried blood on him and he reeked of alcohol.

“...you're not with them at all are you?”

“...who's them?”

Joel was honestly confused, his fuzzy mind had no part in that one.

“You best get out of here drunky if you know what's good for you.”

She lowered her gun and made to move around him, but it was already too late. A shot rang out behind her and Joel flinched as he heard her cuss loudly. He turned his head to see a bullet had grazed her right side, and she was not happy about it.

The next few moments happened so fast that even years later, Joel would have trouble remembering exactly how it went.

She swirled around so fast that the guy who shot her barely had time to react, not to mention she had one of the most terrifying looks on her face that Joel had ever seen. Apparently it was the same for the other guy as he backed up a few steps. But it did him little good as she unloaded her clip into the guy, advancing on him as she did so. Shit this chick was intense.

She scowled down at his corpse as she pulled another clip out, attempting to reload her gun. The others had caught up by this point, opening up on her before she could finish getting her clip loaded, it falling to the ground as she flinched.

“Shit!” She yelled as she made for the dumpster, trying to dive behind it for cover.

This whole time Joel had just stood there, bullets raining around him. And it was at this moment that something in him clicked, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Concern.

She hadn't quite made it behind the dumpster yet and at this rate, probably wouldn't without taking a few bullets to the back.

Joel turned his attention to the men, eyes narrowing as he raised the gun and fired at them, taking out two of them right off the bat.

The surprised men turned their attention to him now, the final four in the group intent on taking him down.

Joel had no idea why they hadn't opened up on him as well. They possibly took in his appearance and saw him as no threat, or they just figured if he was stupid enough to just stand there then he'd just end up going down in the gunfire regardless.

But it was obvious they had not planned on him fighting back.

The four remaining fell back now, taking cover around the corner of the building they had emerged from.

Joel took the moment to quickly bend down and grab the clip the woman dropped, tossing it to her as he quickly checked his own ammo. He was nearly out, and he had nothing to reload with.

“You gonna just stand there and get shot up like Swiss cheese or are you going to fucking get behind cover!?” She yelled as she slid the clip in, giving him a questioning look.

Not really understanding why, he obeyed, falling back and taking cover next to her.

“Alright cowboy, how many rounds you got left?”

“Uh...five.”

“More than enough. You know, you shoot pretty well for a drunk.”

“Not as drunk as I was last night.”

“You're a piece of work if you can look worse than you are now.”

She stood up quickly and popped off a few shots over the top of the dumpster before ducking back down.

“Reckon you can cover me? You got more ammo than me and if I can get in there I can end this real quick. Cause the way I see it, those guys ain't coming out anytime soon. We'll run out of ammo before they do at this rate.”

She looked at him for a moment, considering her options.

“Alright cowboy, if you figure you can take them then be my guest. I'll keep you covered.”

He only nodded has he crouched at the edge of the dumpster, ready to run when she opened fire.

And as soon as he heard the shots going off above him, he dashed out, barreling towards the building.

The group had ducked well inside by this time, shoving the door shut in some attempt of defense. It did them no good of course as Joel just barreled into and through it, slamming himself and the door into two of them.

They were instantly crushed under the weight of the door and Joel falling on them, crushed, but not dead. But they were completely useless now. The other two though made for the back rooms, rushing down the hallway and popping off shots behind them as they ran.

He dove towards the stairwell that was just to the left of the doorway he had barreled through, hitting it's safety just before the bullets slammed into the wall behind where he had previously stood.

His ire was up now, these two were pissing him off to no end.

As he made to get up, he heard thundering steps as the woman ran through the doorway, quickly glancing his way.

“Where the fuck are they!?”

“End of the hallway, the rooms!”

With only a quick nod, she took off down the hall, gun held out in front of her.

“...and here I thought I was the suicidal one, bitch is crazy...”

But even as he said that, he couldn't prevent the grin forming on his face, an action that hadn't happened in many years.

Shots rang out at that moment though, causing his grin to fall has he quickly got up, his heart pausing it's beat as he looked for the woman.

She had gotten to a doorway just before they opened up on her, pinned there now with barely any room to move. She couldn't go any further into the room as that section of ceiling above had caved in, barring the room beyond off from the hallway.

“Shit.” He cursed as he took in her predicament. There was a good chance she was going to get hit again if he didn't do something to get them off of her.

He quickly ducked out from his place on the stairs, popping off some shots to get them to back off. He cursed again though as his gun clicked, the bar popping back. He was out of ammo.

It was enough though as the woman had managed to move from the doorway to another across the hall, taking out one of the guys as she did so. Just one left now. Problem was...she was out of ammo too, he could tell by the look she had flashed back at him.

Joel looked over his shoulder though, remembering the guys under the door. He quickly moved over, throwing the door off of them and grabbing their guns, whistling to get her attention back and tossing her one. She caught it with ease and nodded to him, immediately turning it on the doorway down the hall.

“You're the last one shithead! Let's just end this huh!?”

“Fuck you Tess! This is on you anyway! You should have held up your end of the deal!”

“Not gonna hold up a deal with idiots that are dipping into the drugs they're supposed to be transporting for me!”

Joel raised a brow at this point, realizing he was dealing with a smuggler. No wonder this turned into such a mess. Smugglers often times didn't have much of a choice who they chose as couriers, and more than a few times they got robbed.

But this...this was the first time he had seen a smuggler with this much attitude, and she seemed to be working alone, which probably explained said attitude. It was survival for her.

“I'm not gonna tell you again Cody! Get your ass out here!”

“Fuck you!”

“Goddammit.” She hissed, her patience spent.

Joel just motioned to her, pointing out that he was going to come around from the other side. She nodded to him and went back to talking to the Cody guy, distracting him as Joel exited the building.

Joel moved down the alley quickly, keeping low as he rounded the corner and made his way towards where the guy was. He knew he found the room when he heard the Cody guy screaming something back at this Tess woman. And it was a none too nice thing to say to a lady. Joel's eyes went wide a bit, that put even his vocabulary to shame.

Her response was a bullet that missed Cody's head by mere inches, burying itself into the door frame. That's when Joel took his chance, grabbing an old trash can under the window and throwing it at the partially broken glass, shattering the rest of it.

Cody turned quickly, training his gun in Joel's direction, but Joel was already inside and charging at him. The younger man was surprised at how fast the larger man could move, popping off shots randomly as he tried to hit him. All were off target though as his arm shook, his fear intensifying when his gun clicked.

“...shit...”

Seconds after that, Joel had an open hand on his face, digging his fingers in as he shoved the man through the doorway and smashed him into the wall across the hall.

“Reckon you're done fella'.”

The only response was a muffled grunt as his arms dropped to his sides.

“Hell cowboy. You sure know how to handle a situation.” Tess said as she walked up, taking a place next to Joel as he finally let the guy go.

Cody fell with a hard crash to the floor, barely conscious as he looked up at them.

“Time to talk Cody. I want to know where my fucking pills are.”

 

While Tess dealt with this Cody guy, Joel dealt with the other two men passed out on the floor. He simply just dragged them out of the building, leaving them to a group of scavenging passerby’s who made quick work of the men's possessions.

When he returned to Tess, he found she was having a rough time of it. Somehow this guy had grown a pair in the span of time between the fight and now. She was obviously not a fan of this new found bravery, but she really didn't look to be in the mood to physically threaten.

She had her hand on her side where the bullet grazed her, but it did little to cover the fact that a moderate sized blood stain had soaked it's way through her shirt. During the fight she must have done more damage to it, tearing it open further.

Joel stepped up at this point, putting a hand on her shoulder gently before moving passed her. She gave him a funny look but said nothing, instead watching in curiosity to see just what this man was up to.

Cody was tied up in an old chair in front of them, the bindings being some old phone cord Tess had dug up somewhere in the building. The bindings were quite secure, but it didn't stop the younger man from struggling best he could to escape. Those struggles ended though as Joel approached him, the younger man watching with barely hidden fear in his eyes, wondering just what was going to happen next.

For a few moments Joel said nothing, just staring the younger man down and making him feel as uncomfortable as he possibly could. It worked quite well it seemed, as the younger man's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.

“I do believe the lady here has been asking you questions. Maybe, for your sake, you should see fit to answer them.”

“I...I ain't saying shit! Ain't got nothing to say!”

He ended the sentence by spitting a rather large wad of saliva at Joel's face. A moment later though, he realized his mistake and he attempted to stammer an apology.

Joel only ran a hand slowly down his face, wiping the spit from where it had ran into his beard a bit. Cody was still working hard to try to form some sort of sentence to stay off whatever was coming.

Tess watched the exchange, having never seen the younger man in this state before. He was absolutely terrified, and as she stepped closer a bit, she could see why.

Joel's face was like stone, with barely an expression on it, but you could see the blood boiling beneath, his left eye twitching as his face grew a little more red with each passing moment.

Within seconds of that, Joel's arm shot out and grabbed the younger man by the throat, shoving him back and slamming him to the floor, the back of the chair smashing apart as he did so.

Tess flinched at the action, finding herself moving back a few steps, an action uncharacteristic for her.

“Not a wise move you little shit. Now, we can continue this way or you can answer her questions. You're only getting a break right now because I ain't involved in what's going on, so killing you outright is sadly not an option. But, I can and will beat you to a bloody pulp if I have to.”

Cody only gave a choked response under his tight grip, trying to convey that he was willing to talk.

Joel finally let go, stepping away as the younger man rolled onto his side and coughed harshly.

Tess knelt by him after giving him enough time to get some oxygen back into himself, immediately launching a series of questions at him.

Joel leaned against the doorway behind them for a while, arms crossed over his chest as he watched her work. He had to admit, she was a terror. As he watched, he saw how she always kept her voice even, even when speaking louder or yelling, keeping her dominance known. He figured it was something she must of honed over time, seeing as she was working alone, or from what he could tell she was working alone anyway.

After a short time, he stepped out of the doorway, heading down the hallway and back into the daylight. By now it was afternoon, as evident by the measure of sunlight and the fact his stomach was screaming at him.

He shook his head and gave his stomach a few pats, like he was telling it to wait a bit longer.

Today...had been a hell of a day, and had played out far different than he had imagined it would have. By this point he should have been a bloody mess behind that dumpster, his body having been picked over by scavengers by now.

But, instead he was alive and had somehow ended out helping a complete stranger get herself out of a messy fix. He still couldn't understand why he even cared, it wasn't the first time he'd stumbled on one of these little exchanges. But this was the first time that he intervened, and was glad he had.

By the time he had reached his apartment building, his mind was filled with questions that simply had no answers. He knew he didn't help her because she was a woman, simply because he saw how very well she could take care of herself. So, maybe it was her strength that cause him to act? You didn't see those kinds of actions, not inside the QZ anyway.

“So, this your pad huh?”

He jumped, reaching for the gun he had hidden in the waistline of his jeans.

“Easy Texas, no need to be so jumpy.”

His brows knit together as he looked at Tess, wondering just what in the hell she was doing there.

“You know, it's rude to just take off like that. I didn't even get to thank you properly.”

“Thank me huh?”

“Let's face it, I may have gotten myself a little outgunned back there.”

“Just a little huh?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hey, don't get cocky. You saved my ass, but that still don't give you right to criticize.”

“Fair enough. Regardless, you're not looking so good, should probably get that wound cleaned up.”

“Yeah, I know. Was in such a rush this morning that I forgot my med supplies.”

“Got a kit up in my apartment.”

She cocked a brow at him, giving him a look that just screamed 'you're kidding right?'

He put his hands up in defense, reading right away what she was thinking.

“Now hold on right there, mean nothing like that. Really just mean to patch you up, that's all.”

A small grin formed on her face as she reached out and smacked his arm.

“Yeah, alright. But try anything and you'll be eating a very specific part of your body.”

“...your vocabulary ain't much lady like ma'am.” 

“Never claimed to be a lady. Now, gonna show me the way?”

Joel lead her in silence to his apartment, opening the door for her and letting her step in first.

“Just have a seat, I'll go get the med supplies.”

She did so, easing herself gingerly into one of the chairs. While he dug around and cussed in the next room over, she ran her eyes over the room she was residing in. He didn't have much, even less than most in the QZ. He had some things piled in boxes against the walls, some on rickety tables located in corners. But for the most part it all looked untouched, just tossed to the side and forgotten about. She could imagine the man did little in here other than drink himself into a stupor.

“Here we go. Sorry bout' that. Kinda forgot where I put the damn thing.”

“Don't use it much huh?”

“Don't leave much, so hard to get myself in a situation where I need it.”

He set the case on the table, opening it and digging through for the things he'd need. The kits were government granted, or more military granted. Joel couldn't even remember the last time there was a government.

He looked at her for a minute, realization dawning on him now.

“Uh...could you lift your shirt?”

“Tch.” She scoffed at him, almost laughing at how awkward he suddenly looked. Instead of lifting it up, she just pulled the whole thing off.

“Quit gawking like a teenager and get to work Texas.”

She was messing with him, he wasn't sure how to take it.

“Yes ma'am.” He mumbled, getting to work cleaning up the wound.

The time passed in silence while Joel patched her up, till it came to stitching her up that is. She hissed when the needle broke her skin, unable to bite it back.

“...want a drink?”

“That would be a help yeah.”

He dug out the bottle from the night before, handing it to her and letting her take a few swigs before starting again.

“Man, if this was what you're drinking, no wonder you got so fucked up.”

“Does the trick.”

“Trick for what?”

“Forgetting.”

She closed her mouth at that, despite the leeway he was giving her, his voice held a bite to it at the end there. It was something he definitely did not want to talk about, so she wasn't going to push it. She just took a few more swigs while she waited for him to finish stitching up the small gash.

“Worse than I thought huh?”

“Yeah. Gash ran a whole lot deeper than it looked. Coulda' risked a right nasty infection if you didn't treat it right.”

“Well, thank god you're here then.” She said, raising the bottle in mock toast before taking another drink.

“Heh, maybe you should be the one to take it easy on that now huh?”

“Not as much of a light weight as you might think.”

He chuckled, actually chuckled as he took in her response and the goofy look she was giving him. She was so full of shit. She was already getting tipsy.

“Well, there you go ma'am.”

“Tess.”

“Hm?”

“You can call me Tess. And what is it I call you Texas?”

“...Joel.”

“Joel huh? Not a bad name. So...” she started as she got to her feet, picking up and observing her bloody shirt.

“...that is a right mess isn't it.”

“Not as much as yours.” She said as she pointed out his crimson stained shirt.

He shrugged, turning towards his room while shrugging out of his own bloody shirt, purposely giving her an eyeful as she had he.

“Oh, nice. If that's suppose to be payback that's not much of a punishment.”

“Heh, I'll bet.”

He disappeared into his bedroom for a few moments before returning with two shirts, one a faded green flannel and the other a faded solid blue.

“Here.” He held the blue one out to her. “Reckon it's better than nothing. May be a bit big but, it'll hold you till you get home.”

“Well, a gentleman. Thank you much.” She said as she shrugged into it, almost drowning in it.

Joel put his own on in the meantime, buttoning it up while she continued to glance around.

“Well.” She said at last. “Guess it's time to head out. You best get some sleep, leaving bright and early tomorrow.”

“...beg your pardon?”

“Look, Joel, way I see it there's two options you have right now. You can stay in this small ass apartment and drink yourself to a slow painful and lonely death, or you can help me get my pills back tomorrow.”

“...what? Partner up? What's in it for me?”

“Well, other than saving you from yourself, you'd get a portion of the cut. That ranges from supplies, weapons, rations cards, hell, even shit from before the outbreak that you can hardly find now. And of course, you get the honor spending your days with me. But expect more swearing like a sailor than witty banter. So what do you say? You in Texas?”

He looked at her for a minute, taking it all in before grinning. 

“Well, reckon you got yourself a partner then.”

“Good. Get to bed then big guy, I'll be here soon as the suns risen.”

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a random memory Joel had in my story Carry Me Home. It made me want to write this short fic on their meeting, but it doesn't matter what order this is read in.


End file.
